Guild Wars 2

I JUST got my new laptop last friday and excitedly purchased Guild Wars 2. I finally get around to finally finishing the download only to discover I get single digit fps on high specs. I believe my computer exceeds the minimum requirements:

-Intel Core i7-4510U Processor (2.00GHz 1600 MHz 4MB)
-AMD Radeon R9 M275 2GB
-8GB of Ram

Can anyone help me out?

It could be that your laptop has a secondary graphics card installed on it in addition to the AMD. Make sure your display is set to the AMD and not Intel’s if you haven’t already.

I’m certainly not an expert on computers. Probably your best bet would be to file a support ticket. I ran your specs through a website and you should be able to play the game on high settings no problem.

Sorry, wish I was more help.

have you updated drivers? what are you settings for the game?

iAsuno.9654:

have you updated drivers? what are you settings for the game?

Yes; i’ve updated everything that could be updated. I even rolled back my graphics card driver version to no avail.

I get about 11 FPS on high specs now, 16-20 on medium and 20-28 on low specs.

This can’t be normal….right?

Lordtunkuta.5601:

iAsuno.9654:

have you updated drivers? what are you settings for the game?

Yes; i’ve updated everything that could be updated. I even rolled back my graphics card driver version to no avail.

I get about 11 FPS on high specs now, 16-20 on medium and 20-28 on low specs.

This can’t be normal….right?

Download GPU-Z and verify that the game is going to your 275M and not the Intel HD4600M.

sirsquishy.8531:

Lordtunkuta.5601:

iAsuno.9654:

have you updated drivers? what are you settings for the game?

Yes; i’ve updated everything that could be updated. I even rolled back my graphics card driver version to no avail.

I get about 11 FPS on high specs now, 16-20 on medium and 20-28 on low specs.

This can’t be normal….right?

Download GPU-Z and verify that the game is going to your 275M and not the Intel HD4600M.

GPU-Z, 275M, Intel HD4600M? I don’t know what those are; i’m not really that tech saavy

use google and find GPu-Z, run the program and look at the sensor tab for GPU Utilization. Look at the bottom and make sure the R9 275M is listed and not your HD4400/4600 from the CPU.

sirsquishy.8531:

use google and find GPu-Z, run the program and look at the sensor tab for GPU Utilization. Look at the bottom and make sure the R9 275M is listed and not your HD4400/4600 from the CPU.

Is that what you’re asking for?

http://oi57.tinypic.com/2vt35ee.jpg – Intel selected at the bottom
http://oi58.tinypic.com/dc4o08.jpg – the AMD card selected at the bottom

Can you do this for me:

right click on your gw2 shortcut. Note: the shortcut has to be on your desktop, not the new windows 8 metro ui. Blame microsoft for that.

Then hover over “run with graphics processor” If it says “integrated processor (default)” change the default to the AMD r9 m275.

Edit: If you dont have it on your desktop you can also go to your application drawer, right click GW2 and click on “open file location” then youll have your gw2 shortcut.

lol, turn off the AMD Dynamic Switchable Graphics: if you want to learn more. http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Dynamic-Switchable-Graphics-vs-Nvidia-Optimus.64378.0.html

Open your Catalyst Control Center, should be there to set it to AMD not Intel one.

Kamata.5762:

Can you do this for me:

right click on your gw2 shortcut. Note: the shortcut has to be on your desktop, not the new windows 8 metro ui. Blame microsoft for that.

Then hover over “run with graphics processor” If it says “integrated processor (default)” change the default to the AMD r9 m275.

Edit: If you dont have it on your desktop you can also go to your application drawer, right click GW2 and click on “open file location” then youll have your gw2 shortcut.

I don’t have the option to “run with graphics processor”—only to “run as administrator”

If you have the AMD switching graphics API installed correctly, when you right click on your desktop you should see ‘AMD Catalyst Control Center’ and ‘AMD Switching Graphics’ under that (or whatever its called ATM)
You need to choose the open below CCC, on that sub menu.

Form there you can tell the system what GPU to use for what application, or if you are running a generic driver setup (or modded) you simply get to choose High performance GPU or Power Saving GPU.

High Performance is the AMD GPU
Power Saving is the Intel HD GPU.

sirsquishy.8531:

If you have the AMD switching graphics API installed correctly, when you right click on your desktop you should see ‘AMD Catalyst Control Center’ and ‘AMD Switching Graphics’ under that (or whatever its called ATM)
You need to choose the open below CCC, on that sub menu.

Form there you can tell the system what GPU to use for what application, or if you are running a generic driver setup (or modded) you simply get to choose High performance GPU or Power Saving GPU.

High Performance is the AMD GPU
Power Saving is the Intel HD GPU.

I had already done this.

I have good news, however: I can now reach 32-34 on medium specs. Though this is a great improvement, it’s still disappointing and kinda disturbing that that’s all I can reach. I suppose I shouldn’t be greedy, but is this really all i’m destined to get?

mhm… my rig barely get more than 45-50fps in crowded cities. 12-13FPS in zergfest. Yet I am running 3930k 6 cores overclocked 4.6Ghz + titan underwater everything. Outside map, 60+fps when there aren’t many players around.

That’s is pretty normal for a laptop average FPS.

p.s. Don’t ask why I have a titan, i am day one owner and gw2 is not my only games.

Have you tried to set the Power Management to Maximum Performance? Or you can create a gaming profile to maxed everything.
I got the issue on my laptop (i7 2.4 Ghz Quad, Nvidia 650M) can barely run 20-25 fps on low graphics. After realize that I always played at power saving mode, I switched to performance mode and GOD! I love this game even more!

Lordtunkuta.5601:

sirsquishy.8531:

If you have the AMD switching graphics API installed correctly, when you right click on your desktop you should see ‘AMD Catalyst Control Center’ and ‘AMD Switching Graphics’ under that (or whatever its called ATM)
You need to choose the open below CCC, on that sub menu.

Form there you can tell the system what GPU to use for what application, or if you are running a generic driver setup (or modded) you simply get to choose High performance GPU or Power Saving GPU.

High Performance is the AMD GPU
Power Saving is the Intel HD GPU.

I had already done this.

I have good news, however: I can now reach 32-34 on medium specs. Though this is a great improvement, it’s still disappointing and kinda disturbing that that’s all I can reach. I suppose I shouldn’t be greedy, but is this really all i’m destined to get?

I dont know if you can get more. Because gw2 is more of a cpu user than a gpu user. And your processor is a dual core one. The reason why it says it has quad core processors is because of hyperthreading. Im not gonna go deep into what hyperthreading is but in short it sort of makes your PC think you have more cores. For example my system thinks I have an 8 core processor even though I have a 4 core.

Im not sure if this is the problem, someone that knows more about PC’s should confirm this or tell me its complete bullkitten.

Edit: do you keep your laptop plugged in a power connector? When you play.

Doesn’t matter how many cores you have, game is single core. Ghz is an indication where you are running at and if you overclock it, it shows a level where you pushed it at.

What you have to look is this:

Instructions Per Cycle – “In computer architecture, instructions per clock (instruction per cycle or IPC) is one aspect of a processor’s performance: the average number of instructions executed for each clock cycle. It is the multiplicative inverse of cycles per instruction.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instructions_per_cycle

Kamata.5762:

Lordtunkuta.5601:

sirsquishy.8531:

If you have the AMD switching graphics API installed correctly, when you right click on your desktop you should see ‘AMD Catalyst Control Center’ and ‘AMD Switching Graphics’ under that (or whatever its called ATM)
You need to choose the open below CCC, on that sub menu.

Form there you can tell the system what GPU to use for what application, or if you are running a generic driver setup (or modded) you simply get to choose High performance GPU or Power Saving GPU.

High Performance is the AMD GPU
Power Saving is the Intel HD GPU.

I had already done this.

I have good news, however: I can now reach 32-34 on medium specs. Though this is a great improvement, it’s still disappointing and kinda disturbing that that’s all I can reach. I suppose I shouldn’t be greedy, but is this really all i’m destined to get?

I dont know if you can get more. Because gw2 is more of a cpu user than a gpu user. And your processor is a dual core one. The reason why it says it has quad core processors is because of hyperthreading. Im not gonna go deep into what hyperthreading is but in short it sort of makes your PC think you have more cores. For example my system thinks I have an 8 core processor even though I have a 4 core.

Im not sure if this is the problem, someone that knows more about PC’s should confirm this or tell me its complete bullkitten.

Edit: do you keep your laptop plugged in a power connector? When you play.

Yes; I always keep my laptop plugged in.

My research has been telling me similar stuff about the cores. Some people claimed they had success in improving their FPS after unparking their cores. I would seriously consider this option, but I can’t find out how to reverse the process if something went awry

Lordtunkuta.5601:

sirsquishy.8531:

If you have the AMD switching graphics API installed correctly, when you right click on your desktop you should see ‘AMD Catalyst Control Center’ and ‘AMD Switching Graphics’ under that (or whatever its called ATM)
You need to choose the open below CCC, on that sub menu.

Form there you can tell the system what GPU to use for what application, or if you are running a generic driver setup (or modded) you simply get to choose High performance GPU or Power Saving GPU.

High Performance is the AMD GPU
Power Saving is the Intel HD GPU.

I had already done this.

I have good news, however: I can now reach 32-34 on medium specs. Though this is a great improvement, it’s still disappointing and kinda disturbing that that’s all I can reach. I suppose I shouldn’t be greedy, but is this really all i’m destined to get?

Biggest issue is your i7-4510U. its a Ultra Low power CPU (14w TDP) and only 2 Cores with HT(So a total of 4 Threads, 2 of them being shared with your 2 Physical CPUs)

The Base clock of 2.0ghz with a Boost up to 3.1ghz. The Turbo depends on your Power settings, and Thermal temps. The CPU will down clock between 1.9~Ghz and 2.6ghz as the Temps rise.

http://ark.intel.com/products/81015/Intel-Core-i7-4510U-Processor-4M-Cache-up-to-3_10-GHz

I feel that 40FPS~ on medium Settings (High textures, Environment, and Object settings) is more then fair for THAT cpu.

Edit Just noticed that the CPU only delivers 12 PCI-E Lanes, which only 8 are Configurable to the GPU (since you have an HD4400, your 275M can only link at 4x ??). And the PCI-E bridge isnt even 3.0, its 2.0. So this could also be HUGE part of your performance issue too.

Edit Confirmed that your 275M is only linked at x4 PCI-E v2 (Effectively x16 Version 1), cause the CPU only delivers x12 PCI-E Lanes and x8 of them are going to the Intel HD4400 on that CPU. So the remaining x4 are going to your 275M. That is the MAIN bottle neck for your system, and getting 40FPS~ is completely expected now.

sirsquishy.8531:

Lordtunkuta.5601:

sirsquishy.8531:

If you have the AMD switching graphics API installed correctly, when you right click on your desktop you should see ‘AMD Catalyst Control Center’ and ‘AMD Switching Graphics’ under that (or whatever its called ATM)
You need to choose the open below CCC, on that sub menu.

Form there you can tell the system what GPU to use for what application, or if you are running a generic driver setup (or modded) you simply get to choose High performance GPU or Power Saving GPU.

High Performance is the AMD GPU
Power Saving is the Intel HD GPU.

I had already done this.

I have good news, however: I can now reach 32-34 on medium specs. Though this is a great improvement, it’s still disappointing and kinda disturbing that that’s all I can reach. I suppose I shouldn’t be greedy, but is this really all i’m destined to get?

Biggest issue is your i7-4510U. its a Ultra Low power CPU (14w TDP) and only 2 Cores with HT(So a total of 4 Threads, 2 of them being shared with your 2 Physical CPUs)

The Base clock of 2.0ghz with a Boost up to 3.1ghz. The Turbo depends on your Power settings, and Thermal temps. The CPU will down clock between 1.9~Ghz and 2.6ghz as the Temps rise.

http://ark.intel.com/products/81015/Intel-Core-i7-4510U-Processor-4M-Cache-up-to-3_10-GHz

I feel that 40FPS~ on medium Settings (High textures, Environment, and Object settings) is more then fair for THAT cpu.

Edit Just noticed that the CPU only delivers 12 PCI-E Lanes, which only 8 are Configurable to the GPU (since you have an HD4400, your 275M can only link at 4x ??). And the PCI-E bridge isnt even 3.0, its 2.0. So this could also be HUGE part of your performance issue too.

Edit Confirmed that your 275M is only linked at x4 PCI-E v2 (Effectively x16 Version 1), cause the CPU only delivers x12 PCI-E Lanes and x8 of them are going to the Intel HD4400 on that CPU. So the remaining x4 are going to your 275M. That is the MAIN bottle neck for your system, and getting 40FPS~ is completely expected now.

Ah. I guess my computer isn’t as fancy as I originally though; that’s rather saddening…

Thanks everyone for helping me out!

Be happy what you have, I used to have a Dell Inspiron 9300. It runs WoW 10-20fps… back 10 years ago… (can’t believe is already been 10 yrs…)

2004 feels like yesterday…

A friend of mine has a computer with two Intel Pentium 2 processors that shipped at 1 GHz. The board downclocked them to 750 Mhz but he overclocked them to 850 MHz. It has a GeForce 1 and 1 GB of DDR1. It runs Windows XP flawlessly. He’s run WoW on it and it got 16 FPS on the lowest setting in the lowest detailed hallway.

It’s not his main machine though. He’s a techie individual and his main machine has a 4770K clocked at 4.2 and a GTX 770. Stellar machine too.

Yes, it’s a combination of a slow dual core CPU (HT can be thought of as more of an overclock than two additional cores) and a throttled link to the very good discrete GPU (640 SPs, 40 TUs, 16 ROPs) so it’s more likely your CPU slowing things down here.

Shadows and reflections are known graphic settings that are also CPU heavy so I would leave those two off. I would say experiment with the other settings to find what you impacts performance on your machine. Just remember that around crowds of other players, that CPU will drag your performance down.